Dialogue is the first in a series of occasional exhibitions to be held in the gallery in Somerset, whereby the work of two artists with complementary intentions is juxtaposed to fashion an authentic dialogue.

Sue Bryan was raised in rural Ireland and, despite residing for many years in Manhattan, her work is still firmly rooted in its wet, misty and mythological landscape of hedgerows, fields and rivers. Her practice is a meditative process of “drawing, layering, washing and burnishing the surface using a mix or charcoal, pastel and acrylic” that “explores her own emotional and sensory response to the natural world.”

Conversely, Magnus Petersson takes his inspiration from his immediate surroundings, living for much of the year amid the vast forests that swathe Sweden and his summers overlooking the eastern Baltic. His chosen medium is watercolour and he displays an extraordinary facility to capture the unique local variations of light across all seasons; in this, he may clearly be seen as following in the rich roster of Scandinavian artists – not least perhaps the great Harald Sohlberg - in celebrating that inimitable landscape.

What perhaps they share above all else is precisely that ability to render the impact of light on the landscape, in particular those liminal states at dawn and dusk with their powerful emotive effect on the human imagination. And this exhibition, this artistic dialogue, is especially pertinent as we progress from the darkness of winter into the promise of spring.